Street-sweeper.



v on the line Piu-23 ot Fig. 2.

- UNITED STATES PATENT oratori,

JOI-IN R. POLLOCK. OF LONGBEACH, CALIFORNIA. ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF 'IO E. S. BRUCE, OF LOI\TGBEACH, CALIFORNIA.

STREET-SWEEPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dee. t-t. HMS).

Application filed January 16. 1909. Serial No. 472.619:

To all whom it 'mary concern? l e lie it ltnown that l. Joux lt. lonnotn, a citizen of the -t`nitetl States. residing at the eity ol' laulgbeaeh. county otllos ngeles, and State of talit'ornia. have invented new and uset'nl lmprovementsI in Street-Sneepers. ot' which the following is a specitieation.

.\ly intention relates to that .class ot' st reet sweeping maehines in which the debris on the sult'aee ot the street is tirst loosened and a suction t'an is employet'l't'o ren-love the debris and .deposit it in a receptacle. and then to purjt'y the dust laden air by removing the dust theretrom and deposit-ing the dust within a receptacle and tliseharging the puritied air t'ree trom dust. outside the maehine.

l accomplish thisI objeet by themeelnmism described herein and illustrated in the at'- eompulrving dra\\ll1g.--. in which:

Figure l is a perspective riew of my improved street sweeper. Fig. L) is a horizontal section ot' the dirt reeeptaele and dust purit'ying chamber talieu on the` line 2M-2 of Fig. 3. l-`ig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical seetion ol the. dust purifying chamber taken Fig. -l is a longitudinal vertieal section ot' the dirt reeeptaele taken on the line l-'f'lot Fig. i2. Fig. :3 is a transverse vertical section of the suction head. Y

ln the drawings the running gear of my machine consists ot the t'ront pan-ot wheels l() and the rear pair ot' \\'heels 11 which are. connected to the platform 12 in any suitable nunmer, preferably like such wheels are connected in an ordinary wagon when the machine to be moved by animal' power, `but it the machine is driven by mechanical power Sueh as a gas engine or electric motor the wheels would be connected to the platform like automobile wheels are. connected to the body ot the ear.

Upon the platform is mounted at the frontend thereof a suitable motive power which may consist ot' an electric motor, a

gas engine ora steam engine.

In the drawings the motive power is a gas engine not Shown, being hid by the bed of the wagon. From this engine belt 1t runs to pulley 15 mounted on a shaft 1G which is the driving shaft ofexhaust fan 1T. whereby said fan is operated. The suction port of the exhaust fan is connected by pipe 18 with the dirt; receptacle 19 preferably near the top thereof and on the inner side a little tiorward otE the center. This dirt chamber is also eonneeted by the tlexible pipe Q0 with the center ot the Suction head 2l. This suction h ead is composed of a long narrow wooden l'rame 22 which is preferably a little longer than the distance between the wheels and in shape a parallelogram. Extending longitudinally this trame and secured thereto is partition which is 'placed near the back side ot the frame so as to form an air eltannel Z-t between the back timber ott the trame and the partition. which channel extends longitudinali)v the entire length ot' the trame. being` closed at the ends by the end timbers otI the frames. metallic plate 25 or other elosure. preferably o lE Sheet iron is secured to the bottom of the partition and to the front portion ot' the frame and forms the top ot' the suction head.

A ttexible curtain 'Zt is secured to the tiranle and extends downwardly to the surt'aee of the street to be swept. This curtain is held in contact. when in use` with the sur- 't'aee of the street by small metal plates 2T t which are riveted or otherwise secured thereto. This curtain is preferably about three inches wide. Secured to the bottom of partition timber Q23 is a downwm'dly projet-ting detleet'or 2b preferably of angle iron` which causes the air which passes through ehannel Q-l to pass in close eontaet with the surface of the street. This angleiron preferably extends to within about one inch of the street surface when in use.

To prevent dirt and other material from lodging on the top of plate 25 another metallie plate 29 is secured to the frontv portion otl the frame and to the top of the partition.

Pipe 20 passes through plates 25 and 29.

At each end of the dirt collector are easters 30. The dirt collector is connected by chains. one of which 31 is shown in Fig. 1 at each end thereof to a cross bar 32 which bar is secured to the platform. and the suetion head is caused to travel by these chains when the platform is moved forwardly.

Each end of the suction head is connected by chains 33 with shaft 34 which is provided with a ratchet 9.5.

A pawl 36 is secured to side Wall 3T and operates to hold the ratchet against movement in one direetion.

Then it is desired 'to elevate the suction head above the surface of the street this shaft is rotated'to Wind the chains thereon untilthe suction head is elevated the ,re' quired (instance. when vdog 36 retains the fsnction h'ead are scratcher brooms 38 which bear upon the surface of the street being swept and loosen any dirt that may be packed .aiercon The discharge port of the suction nian is connected by pipe 39 with the front Vond of the 'air purifying chamber i0 beiow the rearwardly and downwardly projecting dcilector il which is connected to the front 1.5 ci ot the chamheras best shown in Fig. 3.

liront deflector is provided with a down- M, 'iy projecting' tiange 42 which causes which strikes the deleetor to abruptly downwardly at. the end thereof and the water 4.3 with' which the chamber' vided vand lwhich' stands therein prefon a level just sbmerging the flange. rear end et the purifying chamber is .the deector ledge 44 which extends 'voit 4ledge el.

l discharge .chute through which the f out of the machine.

'l the purifying chamber which can be opemet'I when it is desired to clean the cham her. lt is vertically movable'in the guidevvay t? and is held in position by set screws l 4:8 or other suitable device. Thedirtreceptacle 1t) is provided With a door a9 which is vertically movable in guideway and is y' heldin itsvelosed position by set screws 51. in theoperation ot my machine the same is drawn over the surface of the street by 4o any suitable power. The engine 'for operating the vexhaust fan is set in motion and the air is exhausted from the suction head. The principal supply ot' air will enter the Suction head through channel 24, passing under the 45 deiector in the suction head at all points. It then passes up through pipe Q0 into the dirt receptacle where it is allowed to expand and come in Contact with'delector 52 whichextends across the receptacle to nearly 5G the outer side and to about one half the depth so as to cause the heavier vparticles of matter to Abe deposited in the bottom of the receptacle.

' pipe 18 into the exhaust tan' and will be ejected. therefrom through pipe 39 andrinto A diy and forwardly andl terminates u door in the lower part of the rear.

The dust laden air will pass on :through lAsthe air passes around flange 4t2 it lashes the Water into a spray which takes the dust out of the air and the puriied air passes out S5 of the chamber. -The dust is turned intomud which settles 'to the bottom or the chamber.l At the close of each days work the mud andwater in the purifying cham` ber is removed and the next morning the chamber recharged with water by the use of a hose which can be inserted through the discharge chute. 'i I have 'found by practical Y experience that itis only necessary to charge the purifying chamber with Water once a day. 4 By this construction an etlicient street sweeping machine is provided thatetalres up all loose dirt uponthe surface ofthe streeto'ver which the suction head moves. 80

lt will be observed that the air passing vthrough channel 24 passes under deliector Q8 which 'is in close proximity to the street surface and then passes upwardly, thereby creating a lifting effect upon the loose dirt7 85 and at the saine time pushing the dirt along the line of motion ot' the machine.

It will be understood that the exhaust is of sutlicient powerto produce in the air going through channel 2i a whipping eect 90 upon the surface of the street being swept'.

It will also be observed that after passing up through pipe 20 the air is delivered into a chamber or receptacle directly' in front of a curved detlector plate which the heavier particles of dirt strike and are thrown downward upon the floor or the receptacle and that the air must then either pass under or around -theend of the deliector in order to reach the outlet through pipe 18 and that 106 only the lighter particles ot' dusty/ill pass with the air into the fan7 and before the' air can escape from the machine it will be disl charged through Water which will take out all the dust. I

' Having described my invention what i claim is: l

`In a pneumatic street sweeping machine a long narrow suction head. having the sides and ends #thereof composed of weighted 110 flexible curtains and having a longitudinal channel near one side of sald suction head, said channel being open at the top and terminating near and above the plane of the bottom of the suction head' in combination 115" with means to'draw air through said cha-n- -nel and from said suction head.

In. witness `that I claim the foregoing have hereuntopubscribed my name this 11th day of January, 1909.

AJOHN R. 'POLLOC/K.. Witnesses: I 'Gn E. HARPHAM,

, S. B. AUSTIN. 

